This Close
by independentwriter-137
Summary: "He was this close to losing her, which was way closer than he ever wanted it to be." Fang almost loses Max. Scene from SOF. One-shot


**A/N. I fell asleep in the middle of history class and I dreamt this. At least I think I did, all I know is that when I woke up I knew exactly what I wanted to write and how I wanted to write it. It's from the second book School's Out—Forever when Max tries to get the chip out of her arm on the beach. Sorry if there's any error in the dialogue, I don't have the book with me right now to check so I just based it off memory.**

Fang was very familiar with fear, being brought up in a dog cage made it hard not to be, but never in his life did he ever feels so scare, so utterly terrified that he could barely think straight.

What else was he supposed to feel when he saw Max—_his_ Max, in a pool of her own blood? She was just sitting there, sawing at her arm with a filthy piece of broken shell. His heart was pounding painfully in his chest; all he could hear was its steady _dudum dudum._ In that moment, nothing else mattered except reaching Max; he didn't even glance back at the rest of the Flock as he sped off to her.

In his rush, he landed clumsily on the sand. He stumbled slightly before running desperately to the girl to stop this nonsense.

His thoughts were a jumbled mess, but one thought was clear as day, "What the hell are you doing?" He gripped her wrist tightly and smacked that disgusting thing out of her hands. "Are you _crazy?"_

Max glared at him, one of her best (or worst, depending on how you look at it), but he could see that it was just an act, and an act he knew she couldn't keep up for long.

He was right, her face dropped and she answered him in a broken voice, "Want the chip out." She wanted the chip out? Did she honestly think that she could get it out with a broken _shell? _She could have bled to death; she could have _killed_ herself

He was so upset that he felt like one of those cartoons with smoke coming out of their ears, "Look where you're cutting!" he snapped, "You're going to bleed to death, you _idiot!"_ He furiously took off his back pack, rummaging for the antiseptic, before dumping it on her arm. Nudge was saying something, but he couldn't hear it. All he could think about was that he was so close to losing her, if he'd been even a few seconds later she might have…

_No,_ he wouldn't think about that. She wouldn't die, she couldn't die.

He heard her repeat that she wanted the chip out, and he flipped.

"Well forget it!" he practically yells at her while roughly bandaging her arm. He didn't care if she winces; he just wanted all this bleeding to _stop._ "The chip stays in. You don't get off that easy! _You_ die when _we_ die!" He knew she didn't say anything about dying, but that's all he could think about. She almost _killed_ herself. He was_ this_ close to losing her, which was way closer than he ever wanted it to be.

When he saw her with all that blood…it was terrifying. His eyes flicked down to the blood-stained sand at their feet and his jaw tightened even more. _This close._

Max looked up at him with those big brown eyes of hers and her face crumpled, "I'm sorry," she croaked out before bursting into tears.

The first thing he felt was surprise, and then concern, and then all his anger went away. He didn't even hesitate to wrap his arms around her and rock her back and forth like a baby. He gently stroked her hair, trying to get her to calm down. He barely noticed the Flock around them, all he knew was that right there in that moment with Max in his arms was something he never wanted to lose.

He came so close to losing her, to never seeing her smile again, see her take off in flight, see her scowl, see her laugh, see her glare at him, see her face light up at the simplest things. He couldn't lose Max and with her in his arms right there he knew he would do anything to keep her.

He held her tighter to him, almost as if to make sure she was real, still there with him, still _alive._ He came this close to losing her, and he would make sure it never got that close again.

**A/N. I figured I steer away from the whole Fang leaving for a while, in a way it's still the same usual sad stuff I usually write, but not heartbreak or anything. I hope you guys liked it as much as I enjoyed writing it, and I also hope I did Fang justice by conveying how **_**I **_**think he was feeling in that moment.**

**Reviews appreciated!**

**-Indy**


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